Tournament Information

Welcome to the 2025 WCT Eagles 16U West-Conn Summer Slam Tournament.

The WCT Eagles/Wolcott Girls Softball Association is very happy to have your team participate in our annual tournament. We strive to provide a positive, competitive, and fun event for all participants and look forward to you, your players, and team parents joining us for a great weekend of softball in Wolcott. 

This packet contains general information about the tournament. We will update teams throughout the weekend with any important information via text messages and emails to your team’s main contact. Game results, seeding and bracket information can also be found at:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZBaoOoUH0svl11hZuG6-ikEWuSjkpBhqXnTbu2qXQ7o/edit?usp=sharing

Each team will have 3 pool play games on Friday/Saturday followed by double elimination (Gold / Silver /Bronze) bracket play on Sunday.  *NOTE* The Bottom four teams (Seeds 9-10-11-12) will not qualify for Gold bracket play and will start in the Bronze division. The two winning teams from Bronze Games 1 & 2 will then move to the Silver Division bracket as the Highest seeds and will start as having one loss in the Silver, however they will play the tournament 5 game minimum. The two remaining teams in the Bronze will play one game to determine the winner and runner up of the Bronze division, both teams will have played the tournament 5 game minimum.

The two teams making the Gold Division Championship Game will not be eligible to move to the Silver Bracket, however they will play the tournament 5 game minimum. 

Important Notes for the Tournament

• This is a pay at the plate tournament.  $75 per team must be presented to the umpires at the start of each game.  There will be no charge for the Championship Game.

2025 Specific Tournament Rules:

• Courtesy Runners- Courtesy runners are allowed at all times for Pitchers and Catchers.  Courtesy runners should first be a substitute player - if no subs are available, it will be the last completed at bat. Other than the Pitcher or Catcher, general Pinch Runner rules apply.

*CAUTION NOTE – Coaches must use caution to assure that the courtesy runner is not on base when her turn to bat comes up. If a courtesy runner is on base when her turn to bat comes, she is removed from the base and brought to bat with an out being declared and charged to the player who was being run for. 

• Lineups – During pool play and all rounds of (Sunday) elimination play INCLUDING THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME all teams are allowed to use UP TO all rostered players with or without a DP/Flex. 

• When not using a DP/Flex all players can play defense. When using a DP/Flex, all players including the Flex and the DP can play defense, The Flex, however, cannot play offense unless substituted (one time) for the DP.  

• All Pool games are seven inning games with a 1 hour 15 minute (75 Minute) time limit - No new inning will start after 70 minutes.  All games will play as described unless the “Run Rule” (AKA: “Mercy Rule”) comes into effect. In the event of a tie game in Pool Play (after time expires or 7 innings, whichever comes first) the game will end resulting in a “Tie Game” in standings.    

GOLD BRACKET 

• The top eight (8) seeds (#1 - #8) will compete in the Gold Bracket. (Bottom four seeds  -# 9-#10-#11-#12 will start in the Bronze Bracket) 

• All Gold Bracket elimination games are seven inning games with a 1 hour 15 minute (75 Minute) time limit - (*with the exception of the tournament Championship Game). No new inning will start after 70 minutes.  The Gold Bracket Championship games will be a seven inning game with a 90 minute (1 hr 30 mins) time limit. No new inning will start after 85 minutes. All games will play as described unless the “Run Rule” (AKA: “Mercy Rule”) comes into effect. In the event of a tie game (after time expires or 7 innings, whichever comes first) in Gold Bracket play, ties will be broken through extra innings being played utilizing the international tie breaker (last recorded out from previous inning will be placed on second with no outs) All Gold bracket games must be played until a winner is determined   

• The Gold Bracket is Single Elimination, Gold Bracket teams that are eliminated will move to the Silver Bracket EXCEPT the two teams making the Gold Bracket Championship Game, these two teams can not advance in this tournament beyond this game and will not move to the Silver or Bronze Brackets.  

• All teams competing in the Gold Bracket will retain and utilize their original seeding number from Pool Play throughout Gold Bracket play. 

SILVER BRACKET 

• 8 teams will compete in the Silver Bracket (The first Six teams eliminated from the Gold Bracket and the two winning teams from games 1 & 2 of the the Bronze Bracket) 

• All Silver Bracket games are 7 inning games. Silver Bracket games  through the Semifinals and Championship game will have a 75 minute time limit, No new inning will start after 70 minutes. Semifinals games will be 75 Minute games (1 hour 15 minutes) No new inning will start after 70 minutes. The Silver Bracket Championship game will be 75 Minute games (1 hour 15 minutes) No new inning will start after 70 minutes. 

• All games in the Silver Bracket will play as described unless the “Run Rule” (AKA: “Mercy Rule”) comes into effect. In the event of a tie game (after time expires or 7 innings, whichever comes first) Extra innings will be played utilizing the international tie breaker (last recorded out from previous inning will be placed on second base with no outs) All Silver bracket games must be played until a winner is determined   

• The Silver Bracket is Single Elimination, Silver Bracket teams that lose a game in the Silver Bracket will be eliminated from the Tournament. The two teams that make the Silver Bracket Championship Game will not advance to any other bracket in this tournament beyond the Silver Bracket Championship game (Gold or Bronze Brackets).  

• All teams competing in the Silver Bracket will retain and utilize their original seeding number from Pool Play throughout Silver Bracket play. 

Silver Bracket Play Format:

• At the start of Silver Bracket play there will be six (6) teams eligible. The four losing teams of Gold Games 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the two winning teams of Bronze games 1 & 2.   

• Silver Bracket games 1 & 2 will be between the four highest seed teams. The 3rd Highest and 4th Highest seeds will be the home teams. The two lowest seeded teams will earn a bye to Games 3&4. The two winning teams of games 1 & 2 will advance and the losers will be eliminated from the tournament.

• Silver Bracket games 3 & 4 will be between the four remaining, highest seeded teams. The two lowest seeds will be the home teams. The two winning teams of games 3 & 4 will advance and the losers will be eliminated from the tournament.

• Silver Bracket Games 5 & 6 (Semi-Finals) will be between the four remaining teams in the Silver Bracket (winners of Silver Bracket games 3 & 4 and losers of Gold Bracket games 5 & 6). The two lowest seeds will be the home teams for Silver Bracket games 5 & 6). The two winning teams will advance to the Silver Bracket Championship Game (Silver Bracket game 7) and the losers will be eliminated from the tournament.

BRONZE BRACKET 

• Four (4) Teams that seed #9, #10, #11, #12 will compete in the Bronze Bracket. These four teams will not be eligible to compete in the Gold Bracket, however two of the four Bronze Bracket teams will advance to the Silver Bracket. 

• There will be three Bronze Bracket Games played, Games 1 & 2 will advance the winning teams of those two games to the Silver Bracket. 

• The two remaining teams (Losing teams of Games 1 & 2) will play the Bronze Bracket Championship Game to determine the Bronze Bracket Champion and Runner Up.   

• The two teams that play in the Bronze Bracket Championship Game will not advance to any other bracket in this tournament beyond the Bronze Bracket Championship game (Gold or Silver Brackets).  

• All Bronze Bracket games are 7 inning games. Bronze Bracket games  will have a 75 minute time limit, No new inning will start after 70 minutes. 

• All Bronze Bracket games will play as described unless the “Run Rule” (AKA: “Mercy Rule”) comes into effect. In the event of a tie game (after time expires or 7 innings, whichever comes first) Extra innings will be played utilizing the international tie breaker (last recorded out from previous inning will be placed on second base with no outs) All Bronze Bracket games must be played until a winner is determined.

• All teams competing in the Bronze Bracket will retain and utilize their original seeding number from Pool Play throughout Bronze Bracket play. 

OTHER TOURNAMENT RULES

• The Run Rule shall be twelve (12) runs after three innings, ten (10) after four innings, or eight (8) runs after five innings.

• All games are seven (7) innings OR until time limit/mercy rules come into effect. All Games will Finish the Inning once the time limit expires. (Games are not “Drop Dead”)

• During pool play, if a game is tied after 7 completed innings within the 75-minute time limit, the game will end in a Tie.  

• During Elimination Rounds, if a game is tied, the “Tie Breaker”   rule will be used for the subsequent innings until a winner is decided. A base runner will start at 2nd base with no outs. The runner will be the last recorded out from the previous inning. 

• A coin toss performed by the umpires will determine the home team during pool play rounds. During Elimination the higher seeded team will be the home team. All teams playing in the Silver Bracket will utilize their Gold Bracket Seeding to determine the home team.

• Between innings, pitchers will throw 5 warmup pitches in the first inning with the catcher throwing down on the 5th pitch.  IF/OF may throw warm ups as well. After the first inning, pitchers will throw 3 warmup pitches with the catcher throwing down on the 3rd pitch and IF/OF will NOT throw warmups. If any warm up session surpasses one minute, the umpire may reduce the number of warmups prior to the start of the inning.  The purpose of this is to move the game along to try to get as many innings in during the time limit.                                            

• Weather - If the majority of pool games are rained out, gameplay for Sunday’s seeding will be reduced to a one-day tournament schedule with reduced pool play games and a reduced game time if at all possible. If time/field conditions will not allow for pool play the elimination round will be drawn at random by the Tournament Director. If the elimination round games (Sunday games) are rained out the results from pool play will determine the tournament champions. 

• RAINOUT POLICY- If no games are started or completed a 50% refund of the total entry fee may be refunded to the participating teams upon request. There will be NO refund if any teams games are started or completed but the tournament is not able to complete all pool or  elimination round games due to inclement weather. 

• Umpire judgment calls are FINAL. There is no allowance for any protests to be filed in regards to any situation that occurs during a game. In the unlikely event that a coach, player or parent is ejected from a game by an umpire that ejection is for the remainder of the day.  The ejected person must leave the field area - must not be visible/heard by the coach, team or umpire.

• Game time is under the control of the umpires on the field. GAME START TIME WILL BEGIN AT THE START OF THE FIRST WARM-UP PITCH OF THE HOME TEAM PITCHER – This time should be noted by each team in their scorebooks or other trackable resources.  

• SEEDING CRITERIA -  Seeding for Sunday games will be by Saturday pool play results and as follows;

• Win/Tie/Loss Record (Tie higher than a loss)

•  *Head to Head record (*Applies only when two (2) teams are affected) 

• Runs Allowed

• Runs Scored

• If all else fails – seeding will be determined by a coin flip by the tournament Director. 

• Each team’s head coach/manager will text the score of their game to Tournament Director 203-509-1536 when the game is over.  Both teams are asked to do this to ensure the proper score is recorded.  If there are any discrepancies, both teams will meet with the tournament director to review scorebooks and determine the proper score.  UIC may attend this meeting as well to ensure the proper score is recorded. If only one team submits their score by the time the final pool play game is completed, that score will be recorded.  If neither team submits a score by the time the final pool play game is completed, the score will be recorded as a 3-3 tie. (Final game has 30 minutes after completion to submit scores.)

• Scores from Saturday games and seeding for Sunday Elimination Games will be texted to the head coach and will be posted at the above link on Saturday evening. Please make sure the Tournament Director has at least one email contact and at least one phone/text contact number for your team.  **Please be patient with the timing of the scores being posted, as the tournament director is also coaching a team in the tournament!

•  The Tournament Director will make every effort to bring the tournament to a successful completion but reserves the right to challenge, shorten, modify or alter games and/or schedules to accomplish this goal. 

• FIELDS: 

WKL1 -  is Field B at Wakelee School (12 Hempel Drive Wolcott)

WKL2 -  is Field C at Wakelee School (12 Hempel Drive Wolcott) 

WHSJV -  is Wolcott HS (457 Boundline Rd  Wolcott)   

 TYRL  - is Tyrrell Middle School (500 Todd Rd Wolcott) 

SUNDAY ELIMINATION PLAY

• SEEDING TERMS: 

• LOWER seedings are given to the teams with the BEST records 

• HIGHER seeds are given to the teams with POORER records 

• LOW SEED WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE THE HOME TEAM FOR EACH GAME

• All Elimination Games will have a 1:15 time limit, except the Cham

Tyrrell Middle School (TMS)

500 Todd Rd.
Wolcott, CT 06716

Wakelee Fields (WKF)

12 Hempel Dr.
Wolcott, CT 06716